Kuznetsova is the defending champ, and Wozniacki could take over the No. 1 spot on the WTA Rankings this week with a deep run. Wozniacki is 0-6 career against the Williams sisters. The only four Top 20 players missing are the Williams sisters, Clijsters and Justine Henin.

Regardless, it will be a welcome return to what has become a somewhat bleak tennis landscape what with the on-again off-again injuries to Serena Williams, Venus Williams who hasn’t challenged for the Top 3 since 2003, the retirement of Justine Henin, the collapse of the Serb contingent Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, and the sidelined Sharapova.

If the Williams sisters were to retire with Davenport as of this writing, the U.S. would have no women in the Top 40, and three players in the Top 100 (including the 30+ Jill Craybas, and Ashley Harkleroad who is pregnant). In other words, by the time the Williams retire, U.S. women’s tennis will virtually retire with them.

“I tried to play it at the beginning, but I did not expect such results…He starts playing and his balls bounce up six meters high,” Almagro told reporters. “These are things I’m not used to. I’m not used to that on the tour, to have such heavy balls, such pace, such rhythm. His level is very high. It’s very difficult to play equal.”

With apologies to Spike Lee, for the rest of the evening I had the best seat in the house. In the player guest lounge I caught all the action in brilliant high-definition on a couch with Ivan Lendl (one of seven hall of famers in attendance…with Roger a lock, make it eight) and former Top 10 player Tim Mayotte. Needless to say, we had our own commentary, plenty of stories and the banter between Ivan and Tim was not nearly as one-sided as Lendl’s 17-0 career record against Mayotte (and you thought Andy Roddick had it bad with Roger)!